Torah Values: A useful thought for a Bar Mitzva

Here is my suggestion for someone that wants to say something true and useful at a Bar Mitzvah.

This relates closely to my other post on Meta-Mitzvos.

What is the first mitzvah a Bar Mitzva fulfills?

The Chasam Sofer at the end of Vayechi  on Vayar Yosef L'Ephraim says that the first mitzva a person fulfills when he becomes a Bar Mitzva is עבדו את ה׳ בשמחה, ivdu es hashem b'simcha. Apparently, it's one of those mitzvos that are implied by many pesukim in the Torah, even though they're not from the Minyan Taryag. It's a "fundamental value" kind of mitzva.

There are many concepts that the Torah intimates that acquire the description of "mitzvah" even if they don't carry the legal status of the ones in the Taryag. For example: according to those that hold tzaar baalei chayim is deoraysa, where does that come from? Every rishon has a different source, ranging from the method of shechita to prikah to kilayim to shiluach hakein to the criticism of Bilaam for hitting his donkey...... If no two rishonim can agree on the source, it underlines that the source does not matter. The more important lesson is that when we see that the Torah stresses a concept, we can call it a mitzva deoraysa.  These are Mitzvos that are so fundamental that they aren't and don't need to be stated as a command.

Another excellent example: The Sefer Yereim in Mitzva 232 brings from Rav Yehuda'i Gaon that developing the trait of "Humility" is a Mitzva Deoraysa that is numbered among the Taryag. He asks, "What is the makor that this is a mitzva?" He answers that "in that the Torah praises this trait, by praising Moshe Rabbeinu's humility, we learn that it is a mitzvah." This proves it's a mitzva?  It is clear that values that the Torah strongly encourages, whether stated as a command, or strongly emphasized as a worthy trait, are, for all practical purposes Mitzvos.

Here is the Yereim:

סימן רלב (כב) 

שפל רוח וצעיר. מצוה זאת מצאתי בהלכות של ר' יהודאי הגאון ולא מצאתי עיקר אלא מששבחה התורה העניו דכתיב והאיש משה עניו מאד למדנו שמצוה להיות אדם עניו ושפל רוח. ואמרו חכמים (נדרים נ"ה א') כל המשפיל עצמו הב"ה מגביהו שנאמר בל גיא ינשא וגו'. ותנן (אבות) ר' לויטס איש יבנה אומר מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח שתקות אנוש רמה וכתיב עקב ענוה יראת ה'. ואמרינן בשבת ירושלמי (פ"א ה"ג) מה שעשה חכמה עטרה לראשה עשתה ענוה עקב לסולייסה דכתיב עקב ענוה יראת ה' וכתיב ראשית חכמה יראת ה'.

So, too, the Chasam Sofer says, if in the Tochecha we are so harshly chastised for not serving "b'simcha...," it must be that avodas hashem b'simcha is a deoraysa, in the sense of being an Torah value. That's what he means by mitzvah deoraysa. It may not be an av, but it's certainly a tolda.

When I said this at the Bar Mitzvah of my great nephew, Eliahu Tzvi Faskowitz, in May 2022, Parshas Kedoshim, I connected it with my post on Meta-Mitzvos, and added the following:

Our parsha begins with the charge "Kedoshim tihyu." This is an example of a fundamental mitzva, it informs everything that we do. Usually, mitzvos are defined clearly and meticulously, but this vitally important mitzva is not defined other than in the most general terms. Its importance is clear from the fact that every single mitzva we do is preceded with a bracha of "Asher Kidshanu." Obviously, it is a defining principle. But it can not be defined. It can only be learned through observation, observation of parents, of teachers, of good role models, by contemplating the generations that came before.  

It is undefined not because it is unimportant. It is undefined because it is extremely important, because it speaks in a language without words, it requires that you see it in others that live it in their deepest self.

(Because nobody remembers the drashos at their bar mitzvah, I tried to say something memorable. I said that doing mitzvos without these fundamental values and feelings is a shell, it is a hard shell, and what use is a hard shell without a creamy center." Hopefully, the incongruity of a line like that after a deeply meaningful drasha might make a roshem.)